Operation Yoav

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Operation Yoav (also called Operation Ten Plagues or Operation Yo'av) was an Israeli military operation carried out from 15 October - 22 October, 1948 in the Negev Desert, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Its goal was to drive a wedge between the Egyptian forces along the coast and the Beersheba-Hebron-Jerusalem road and ultimately to conquer the whole Negev. Operation Yoav was headed by the Southern Front commander Yigal Allon.

Israeli soldiers capturing Beersheba
Israeli soldiers capturing Beersheba

The force consisted of three infantry brigades, the Negev Brigade, the Givati Brigade, and the Yiftach Brigade, an armored battalion from the 8th Armored Brigade and the largest artillery formation that had been available to the IDF at the time. On October 18 the Oded Brigade also joined in the operation.

In the evening of October 15 the Israeli Air Force bombed Gaza, Majdal, Beersheba and Beit Hanoun. A battalion of the Yiftach Brigade mined the railroad between El-Arish and Rafah and various roads in the Gaza area. Two battalions of the Givati Brigade drove south east of Iraq al-Manshiyya, thus cutting the road between al-Faluja and Beit Jibrin. Beit Jibrin was captured by the 52 Battalion of Givati and the 8th Brigade on October 23.[1]

In the early morning hours of October 21, the Negev Brigade and 8th Armored Brigade attacked laid siege to the city from the west. Another force joined them from the north. Even though in the city proper, the Egyptian forces outnumbered the Israeli 500 to 60, they surrendered after being shelled by an anti-tank gun which was smuggled into the city at 08:00. The conquest of Beersheba was named Operation Moshe, after Moshe Albert, who fell defending the besieged Beit Eshel.[2]

While a truce was ordered for 15:00 hours on 22 October, action in the days immediately following the operation, and associated with it, continued.[3] After the Egyptians retreated southward from Ashdod (28 October) and al-Majdal (6 November) to Gaza, the coastal strip down to Yad Mordechai was occupied by Israeli forces.[3] On 9 November, the Suedan fortress held by Iraqi forces was captured and renamed the Yoav Fortress in honor of the operation[3]

Contents

[edit] Pretext

In the central and northern parts of Palestine, the Israelis had managed to make substantial territorial gains before the second truce of the war went into effect. But the southern Negev Desert, allocated to a Jewish state in the 1947 Partition plan for Palestine, was still under Egyptian control. Therefore Operation Ten Plagues (after the punishment God sent to the Egyptians for holding the Israelis captive in the Old Testament) was made and approved at a Cabinet Session 6 October 1948.

The pretext to launch the operation came at 14 October 1948 when 16 trucks heading for a Jewish settlement was fired on as it passed through Egyptian positions. Ralph Bunche who had became UN mediator after the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte asserted:

[The Israeli] military action of the last few days has been on a scale which could only be undertaken after considerable preparation, and could scarcely be explained as simple retaliatory action for an attack on a [Israeli] convoy.

He urged the Israelis to cease the attack and to return to its pre-14 October lines, but Israel refused by saying that it "stands by its claim to the whole of the Negev."

[edit] Palestinian communities captured in Operation Yoav

Name Date Defending forces Brigade
Kawkaba 20 October 1948 n/a Givati Brigade
Beersheba 21 October 1948 Egyptian Army 8th Armored Brigade, Negev Brigade
Al-Qubayba 28 October 1948 Egyptian Army
Isdud 28 October 1948 Egyptian Army
Bayt Jirja 30 October 1948 Egyptian Army Givati Brigade, Negev Brigade, Yiftach Brigade
Al-Khalasa End of October Egyptian Army Negev Brigade
Hamama 4 November 1948 Egyptian Army Givati Brigade
Al-Jiyya 4 November 1948 Egyptian Army Givati Brigade
Al-Jura 4 November 1948 Egyptian Army Givati Brigade
Barbara 5 November 1948 Egyptian Army Givati Brigade, Negev Brigade, Yiftach Brigade

[edit] Brigades participating in Operation Yoav

[edit] References

  1. ^ Carta Jerusalem (2003). Battle Sites in the Land of Israel (in Hebrew). Israel: Carta, p. 33. ISBN 965-220-494-3. 
  2. ^ Carta Jerusalem (2003). Battle Sites in the Land of Israel (in Hebrew). Israel: Carta, pp. 29-30. ISBN 965-220-494-3. 
  3. ^ a b c Israeli History: War of Independence. Israeli Weapons. Retrieved on 2007-12-06.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


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Israeli military operations in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
Pre-IDF: Nachshon | Harel | Misparayim | Hametz | Yevusi | Yiftach | Matate | Balak | Maccabi | Gideon | Barak | Ben-Ami | Kilshon | Schfifon | Ben Nun
IDF: Operation Erez | Ben Nun B | Yitzhak | Yoram | Dekel | Danny | Kedem | Hiram | Yoav | Horev | Assaf | Ovda
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